This invention relates to an improved yarn feed system to deliver yarn from a yarn supply to reciprocating needles of a tufting machine. In particular the yarn feed system has particular application where a number of differently coloured or different types of yarn are fed to different needles in a particular sequence across the width of the machine to produce a predetermined pattern in the tufted fabric.
Conventionally where it is required to feed different yarns in a particular sequence to particular needles across the width of a tufting machine it has been proposed to use multiple pairs of rollers situated one above the other, each pair of rollers extending the full width of the machine and being operable to deliver a selected group of yarns to selected needles of the machine. In arrangements of this type all yarns pass from yarn supplies to one side of the pairs of feed rollers and particular yarns are selected and fed around the required pair of feed rollers and to the desired needles whereby when the machine is operated the pairs of feed rollers can be driven to allow the desired pattern to be produced in the tufted fabric. All feed rollers are fixed within the machine and are not easily removable.
A problem arises with these known arrangements insofar as it can be difficult to rethread yarns which have become broken or which require changing for any other reason. This arises because the yarn feed rollers are fixed in position in the machine and therefore to change the sequence of yarns for a new pattern it is usually necessary to disconnect most or all of the yarns from the feed rollers. All of the disconnected yarns are then required to be rethreaded to allow the machine to become operational again. This task is necessarily time consuming and will result in significant machine down time.